


Leap.

by mypetersburg



Category: Anastasia (1997), Anastasia - Flaherty/Ahrens/McNally
Genre: F/M, Gen, Gun Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-17
Updated: 2018-10-17
Packaged: 2019-08-03 16:07:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16329218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mypetersburg/pseuds/mypetersburg
Summary: "We have the wrong papers?" Dmitry asks, and suddenly his stomach aches and his shirt is swallowing him.The train scene, from Dmitry's perspective.





	Leap.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, all! This is my first ever work posted to A03, so please be nice! Thank you so much for the read.

Crouching on the floor of a train compartment, heart pounding and bile rising up in her throat, Anya begins to scream. She is far too loud, screaming like there are no Bolshevik officers in the front of the train, screaming like she isn’t going to get Dmitry and Vlad killed before they can even get to Paris. Dmitry needs her to quiet down, if only for their survival. He kneels beside her and makes quick work of tucking her in against him, her sobs muffled by his thin coat.  
(Something inside of him chuckles darkly and reminds that there will be plenty of money to spend on a new coat once he passes Anya off as someone she doesn’t have the slightest shot at being. Dmitry crushes this dark voice in him down, down, down.)  
There is another gunshot from the back of the train. Anya yelps and he hastily shushes her, squeezing her shoulders and smoothing her hair.  
“Anya,” Dmitry says, trying his absolute best to keep his voice soft, “You have to breathe. You have to stay quiet.”  
(She shakes her head. He tries to ignore his heart pounding in his chest and the way Anya’s shoulder shake with sobs.)  
“They brought us all to the basement. I thought we were posing for a photograph, Dmitry. I was wrong.” Anya says.  
“Anya, hush. We’re almost out of Russia. We’re safe. No one is going to hurt you, I promise.” Dmitry whispers, rocking her slowly back and forth until she stops hiccupping on her sobs.  
(It pierces a dagger through Dmitry’s heart. He is using her, this kind and beautiful girl. It is gnawing at him. But he is in too deep now. He is drowning in lies and guilt.)  
He needs to defuse this situation. He needs to keep her quiet.  
“Anya, we need to sit up. Come on.” Dmitry whispers, starting to pull on her arms. She yanks away and glances up at him, big blue eyes pooling with tears and fear.  
(Romanov blue, the voice in his head hisses. Dmitry ignores it. She can’t be her.)  
“Who am I, Dmitry?” Anya asks.  
(It hits him suddenly. He can’t do it. He can’t lie to her, not when she clung to him and wept. Not now.)  
“I don’t know.” Dmitry manages, and she shakes her head, narrowing her red-rimmed eyes.  
“You put all of these ideas in my head,” she says, her voice edged with frightening suspicion, “and I’m starting to think they’re true.”  
(How he wants them to be true. How he wants Anya to be Anastasia. How he wants to have been truthful to her.)  
Just then, Vlad bursts through the door.  
“We have to go. Get up, get up!” Vlad snaps, and Dmitry yanks Anya up beside him.  
“What’s the matter, Vlad?” Dmitry asks, yanking their travel papers out of Vlad’s outstretched hand.  
“This damn country. Everything’s in red.” Vlad hisses. Anya’s eyes widen and Dmitry rifles through the papers in his hands.  
“We have the wrong papers?” Dmitry asks, and suddenly his stomach aches and his shirt is swallowing him.  
“They’re bringing everyone with the papers they deem wrong to the back of the train and shooting them. A massacre.” Vlad says, desperation in his voice. Suddenly, there is a scream from the back of the train and Anya tenses up beside Dmitry. He lays a hand on her shoulder.  
“We have to get off this train. Now.” Vlad says. He runs past Anya and Dmitry, and Dmitry freezes. Anya reaches for his hand, squeezing desperately.  
“Dmitry, come on. We have to go.” Anya says.  
(His heart is in his throat and his stomach in his shoes. She is squeezing his hand and practically shouting his name. It is just white noise in his ears.)  
Anya gives him a good yank and it snaps Dmitry back into reality. She shouts that they have to move, and Dmitry finally begins to run, reversing the rolls and dragging her behind him until they catch up to Vlad, and then he suddenly doesn’t know what to do. But Anya, the smart girl she is, suddenly has an incredibly stupid idea. They will jump, she says. And Dmitry laughs at her. But things are happening very quickly and suddenly the three of them are going along with Anya’s plan.  
“Jump!” she yells. And he does.  
(When he crashes into the snow, the first thing he does is force himself up and run to Anya. He needs to be sure she’s okay. He could tell himself this is because he needs her alive so that he can con the Dowager get the reward. But it’s not. It’s not about the money, or the Dowager, or her being Anastasia. Now, it is just about penniless Anya.)  
(The thought terrifies him.)


End file.
